The first time I saw the Beatles of course was in the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg. It was just a little scruffy band and I thought it was fantastic. They were not doing concerts as people sometimes think; it was just a nightclub where they played for the people to dance. They played for an hour, then there was a break, then Rory Storm and the Hurricanes came on, then they played again. Our friends all picked their favourites but I couldn’t – they were all great. John was so incredible, Paul was so great with his fast little songs, and George was fantastic too, singing all these little cocky Eddie Cochran songs. And Stuart [Sutcliffe] was very impressive, the way he looked – he was a real rocker. Was it difficult when he started going out with Astrid [who had been Voormann’s girlfriend]? No, that was easy!

They sent me a copy of Please Please Me when it came out. In a way, because I had seen them live, it was a slight disappointment, because the sound – even though they had George Martin – was nowhere close to the tight, solid sound when they played live. It was very difficult because it was the first days for them in the studio. They were very shy, not as cocky as they were later. They worked quick though – Paul said to me recently, “In those days we just recorded the song and it was finished.” They knew those songs so there wasn’t much rehearsal.

I heard Twist and Shout in the clubs and loved it. Everybody always wanted to hear it but most of the time John didn’t want to sing it because his voice was f***ed every time he did it. But on Please Please Me they had started writing their own songs too: Misery and I Saw Her Standing There – I liked that – were novelties for me because in Hamburg they’d not performed one original song. On those very early LPs, John and Paul were working together like a unit and singing them together. Love Me Do was too bubblegum for me but Please Please Me I liked – because musically it was a step in the direction where I could say, “Yes, now they’re really doing something!”

George, Paul and Ringo came to visit me in Tenerife, when they had just released that song. They said immediately, “Here’s our new record, it’s going into the charts!” They put it in my hand and said, “What do you think?” And I said, “Well I haven’t heard it yet!”

Klaus Voormann designed the sleeve of Revolver and his new work Liverpool Rascals is the cover of our supplement; www.klausvoormann.com

ABOUT THE ALBUM

Recorded February 11, 1963

Released March 22, 1963

Label and catalogue numbers Parlophone PMC 1202 (mono), PCS 3042 (stereo)

UK chart position 1

Side 1

I Saw Her Standing There (2.55)

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